Utah football: Utes to 'evaluate' QB position

South Bend, Ind. • Utah offensive lineman Tony Bergstrom said he once felt the Utes were invincible as an offense. He doesn't feel that way anymore, not after Utah's offense stumbled for the second week in a row, fading to a 28-3 loss here at Notre Dame Saturday.

"Sometimes it takes some humbling to get better," he said. "Hopefully, that happens with us."

After averaging 45 points through the first eight games, the No. 15 Utes (8-2) didn't score a touchdown Saturday for the first time since a 2007 shutout at UNLV.

"The single biggest factor was our ineptness on offense," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "That was the biggest single factor."

Quarterback Jordan Wynn was 24 of 39 for 194 yards with an interception. Booed at home during last week's 47-7 loss to TCU, Wynn looked even shakier against a Notre Dame defense that was giving up almost 25 points a game.

Wynn threw an interception in the first quarter and never got in a rhythm with his receivers on the downfield passes that worked so well earlier in the season.

The Utes' longest drives of the game were of 65 and 61 yards, but failed to produce any points as they ended on downs.

Whittingham said he contemplated replacing Wynn with Terrance Cain, but ultimately decided the game didn't rest on the sophomore's shoulders alone.

However, he said the position would be evaluated and discussed this week.

"It's something we have to evaluate after we dissect the film and look at where we are at that position," Whittingham said.

"Last week, it was a myriad of things. This week, it wasn't as problematic across the board, but you have to perform. I don't care what level of football you play at, that is a key position and you've got to have performance and production. That's a couple weeks in a row now we haven't been able to get as much as we needed to."

Wynn said he wasn't surprised by anything the Notre Dame defense did, but couldn't define exactly why the Utes struggled so much.

"We didn't move the ball, we didn't score points, and we put the defense in short fields; you name it, we didn't do it," he said. "It definitely doesn't feel good. We have a lot of work to do. Everyone needs to start working harder, I guess."

Utah's running attack never got off the ground either, as Matt Asiata rushed 13 times for 48 yards and Eddie Wide rushed just eight times for 21 yards.

Whittingham said he felt the Utes never had control of the line of scrimmage, crediting the Irish for their play, but not to the point that it made excuses for the Utes.

"We have some issues," he said. "We all have to work hard right now."

Asked what the Utes do next, Bergstrom replied, go "up."

"We were prepared for everything," he said of the Irish. "We have to go back and get our confidence up and our energy level back up."

lwodraska@sltrib.comTwitter: @lyawodraska, @sltributes —

By the numbers

Utah N.D.

First downs 16 13

Rushing yds. 71 127

Passing yds. 194 129

Total yds. 265 256

Third-down conv. 4-15 2-10